Prompt Cast
The History and Evolution of Pizza: From Naples to the International Space Station
TLDR Pizza has a rich history that dates back to 997 in Italy, but the modern dish we know today originated in Naples in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It gained popularity in the United States after World War II and has since become a multi-billion dollar industry globally, with a significant market in the United States and even making its way to the International Space Station.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Pizza is a popular and diverse food with many variations and disagreements about what is best.
02:00
The history of pizza is difficult to trace, but the first mention of something called pizza was in a bookkeeping record in 997 in Italy.
03:57
The word "pizza" has ambiguous origins, but the modern dish we know as pizza originated in Naples in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, where it was mostly served to poor people and likely included ingredients such as cheese, lard, salt, garlic, and possibly tomatoes.
05:45
Pizza became a popular street food in Naples in the 18th and 19th centuries, with 54 registered pizzerias by 1807, and by the second half of the 19th century, pizza had become well known as a Neapolitan dish, leading to a significant moment in its history when King Umberto and Queen Margarita visited Naples and enjoyed a pizza with the colors of the Italian flag.
07:26
Pizza gained widespread popularity in the United States after American troops who served in Italy during World War II brought their love of the dish back home and tourists began requesting pizza everywhere they went in Italy.
09:27
Pizza's popularity exploded in the 1950s in the United States, leading to the development of new variations such as Hawaiian pizza and the Rocky Mountain Pie, and the establishment of chained pizza restaurants like Shake East Pizza, Pizza Hut, Little Caesar's Pizza, and Domino's Pizza, as well as the creation of frozen pizzas; meanwhile, other countries, like Argentina, also developed their own unique styles of pizza.
11:23
Pizza is a multi-billion dollar industry globally, with a significant market in the United States, where 13% of Americans eat pizza every day; it has even made its way to the International Space Station and has been recognized as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
